Year: 2018

Southwest Airlines Flight Death

Philadelphia’s medical examiner says that a woman killed when she was partially blown out of a Southwest Airlines plane died of blunt impact trauma to her head, neck and torso.

Spokesman James Garrow of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health said Wednesday evening that Jennifer Riordan’s death was ruled accidental.

https://apnews.com/5dc6f818204c4c299eef8764e826e0ba

By Associated Press

Lead in City Hall

James Garrow, the city’s director of Digital Public Health, noted the Lead and Healthy Homes Program “is actually driven by the presence of children, not the simply the presence of lead in the environment.”

In other words, our unscientific findings at City Hall don’t exactly mesh with the focus of that effort as it “does not focus on work environments.”

http://www.phillyvoice.com/philadelphia-city-hall-lead-exposure-testing-positive-results-mayor-kenney/

By Brian Hickey

Translation of Critical Health Information

Heath Dept. spokesperson James Garrow told Billy Penn the city does already translate some documents, on a case-by-case basis.

These documents are usually grouped with the English documents on the department website, he said. Per Garrow, it takes two to three business days to translate a document to Spanish, via the city’s translation vendor, Geneva Worldwide.

https://billypenn.com/2018/02/15/phillys-health-department-should-release-opioid-information-in-spanish-advocates-say/

By Michaela Winberg

Naloxone Ad Campaign

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Department of Public Health launched a campaign today to encourage residents to carry and use naloxone, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. In 2017, more than 7,000 overdoses were reversed by Philadelphia Fire Department, Police Department and SEPTA Police. Community organizations and residents reversed many overdoses in addition. Nonetheless, in 2017 approximately 1,200 people in Philadelphia died of drug overdose, which means that more widespread use of naloxone has the potential to save many more lives.

https://mailchi.mp/phila/advisory-city-of-philadelphia-launches-new-campaign-to-encourage-philadelphians-to-get-trained-to-use-naloxone-296257

Don’t Take The Risk Campaign Launch

Philadelphia — The Philadelphia Department of Public Health launched the second phase of an emotional media campaign that is part of the City’s effort to decrease deaths related to opioid use.  The campaign contains a collection of stories in English and Spanish told by people whose lives have been forever changed by prescription painkillers. The Don’t Take the Risk website can be viewed in English and Spanish.

https://mailchi.mp/phila/city-of-philadelphia-launches-new-dont-take-the-risk-campaign-to-prevent-opioid-deaths

Questions about CUES in Philadelphia

The City just provided an important update on our continued work to reduce opioid abuse in our city.

Philadelphia will encourage organizations to develop Comprehensive User Engagement Sites (CUES). CUES will help people experiencing a substance abuse disorder related to opioids.

https://beta.phila.gov/2018-01-24-cues-the-latest-effort-in-the-battle-against-the-opioid-crisis/

Primary author Harrison Morgan